"Aunt Arie" Summary

Mike Cook and Paul Gillespie are visiting for the first time with an older woman nicknamed Aunt Arie. Her log cabin home lies far into the mountains, without running water and with only a small fireplace for heat and cooking. Aunt Arie is nearly completely self sufficient in that she grows her own vegetables, gathers water from the well outside, and preserves food nearly constantly for the winter months. The two young men are asked, upon arriving at the home, to assist Arie in removing the eyes from the head of a hog recently given to her by neighbors. As the boys struggle to grasp the eye and pull upward, allowing Arie to cut the tissue holding the eye in place, Arie explains how to make souse meat. First, she explains that one must soak the head of the...